Reading FC Match Report: 2012/2013 Season - Premier League

22 September 2012WEST BROM 1 READING 0

Reading: -- West Brom: Lukaku (71 mins).

It’s not all glitz and glamour in the Premier League. A visit to The Hawthorns, tucked away amongst the scrap yards and derelict factories of the Black Country, is enough to bring the most starry-eyed down to earth. And it is with a huge ‘bump’ that Reading have landed bottom of the pile after only 4 games of the season, the first time we have propped up the rest of the pack in any league since the Bullivant/Burns relegation of 15 years ago. Ponderous in defence, off the pace in midfield and toothless up front; the writing looks to be on the wall for this Reading side in much the same way that the ‘class of 97’ seemed to be dead men walking right from the opening salvos of our final season at Elm Park.

In the bleak West Midlands, West Brom and Reading served up a quite forgettable first half. Garath McLeary manufactured his own half-chance with an overhead effort which barely caused Foster to break sweat on a sunny day. Indeed, Foster would hardly get his gloves dirty for the rest of the afternoon, such was the shot-shy nature of Reading’s display. At the other end, McCarthy retained his place in goal and made a good low save to keep out the excellent James Morrison. The young ‘keeper put in a good display throughout the game, repeating the trick by denying the Baggies play-maker with a stunning stop early in the second half. Federici is currently out of favour/injured depending on who you choose to believe and provided McCarthy continues to perform competently then the Aussie can sit sulking on the bench or in the stands.

That early half chance apart, McLeary utterly failed to impose himself on the game in the first half and with captain marvel McAnuff failing to function effectively on the other flank, Reading resorted to long balls pumped up to Pogrebnyak and his estranged strike-partner Le Fondre who linked up with all the understanding of a divorced couple. Rather than using ALF’s mobility to play off the shoulder of the last man and anticipate the rare occasions on which Pogrebnyak managed to win the ball in the air or hold it up effectively, Reading’s game plan seemed to consist of getting it forward and away from danger as quickly as possible and feeding off the scraps. Even more frustratingly, with Reading 1 down in the closing stages and with Noel Hunt having replaced the ineffective Russian, the use of the long ball became even more prevalent to two sub-six footers up front.

The best chance of a drab first half came when Olsson’s header came back off a post at a corner following a desperate Gunter clearance when the Albion debutant was played in behind our weezing back four. Thankfully, proceedings livened up somewhat in the second half. ALF found himself surging clear of the Albion back line and was only denied by a suspiciously high-looking boot. Reading were at last looking a lot more likely and a Shorey freekick was floated just wide of Foster’s far post. The set piece delivery on the day was barely good enough and you feel that the quality of our free kicks and corners will be crucial to our chances of staying in the Premier League.

It is the sign of a struggling team when you concede following your best period of the game. Chris Gunter failed to deal with the attentions of Shane Long following a deep cross into the box and the bits-and-pieces were mopped up by Lukaku who had room to manoeuvre and strike the ball through three sluggish pairs of Reading legs and under the unsighted McCarthy. Reading were willing if not particularly able to get back into the game in those last 20 minutes and a decent cross from the improved McLeary was headed over narrowly by Robson-Kanu at the far stick. It would be easy to say ‘if only Pogrebnyak had still be on the pitch’ when that chance came and went, but given the leaden-footed display by our big summer signing it is doubtful that he would have been in the right place at the right time in any case. McAnuff had a couple of half-hearted penalty shouts but no-one, least of all referee Foy, was listening to his bleating.

And so we failed to score for the first time this season and lost for the 8th time in 9 league visits to a graveyard ground for us. But frankly if we continue to perform like this then every visiting ground will be a difficult venue for us. Our success in the Championship was based around closing teams down quickly in midfield and getting the ball wide. But we’re back in the Big Time now and players so effective last season look off the pace and overwhelmed already. Sure, we started last season in similarly poor form but it is a hell of a lot easier to shake yourself out of a rut in the Championship when the quality of opposition isn’t as clinical as the likes of Jermain Defoe and Romelu Lukaku.

Reading need to get back to what they are best at; getting in the face of the opposition and using their pace down the flanks to create chances. Kebe’s imminent return will make a difference. But we need to be a lot more sophisticated in what we do in possession. Guthrie makes a difference with some rare ability and composure on the ball but with a crop of forward players unable to fashion a good attempt at goal from a half chance such as Lukaku did then we will be struggling to score goals until at least January. And perhaps beyond.
Man of the match: McCarthy.
Neil Maskell

Post Match Fans' Opinion

Boring game, no threat from us. We have one game plan which is to get the ball wide and get crosses in. Playing against 2 good centre backs this is always going to be difficult, particularly when Le Fondre is so small and Pog off his game so badly.

Their goal was slightly against the run of play but for all our possession we had not actually created a chance. Lucky to still be nil nil at half time anyway with an excellent Gunter clearance and excellent McCarthy save keeping us in it. Defence looked reasonably solid with Gunter having more urgency to get forward and Shorey his usual bustling one footed self. For the goal they weren't tight enough and McCarthy looked wrong footed by a snapshot which was fairly central, no blame attached to him however.

Mcleary fairly anonymous other than a couple of bursts first half with mcanuff looking low on confidence but took on his man a couple of times with embarrasing penalty shouts as the result. Ledge out of his depth and his passing is going downhill rapidly which puts alot of pressure on guthrie to be main creative outlet. They both played too deep which meant WBA could defend deep easily knowing our only route of attack was down the wings.

Need to raise our game and get rid of the idea that we are bad starters to a season. At this rate we'll be cut adrift by the time we get into our stride. Also Bad Wolf chant is absolutely awful, grown men howling is something that should never be heard. On a positive note the Balti pies were good and we were stood near an attractive female police officer.
Carlos

Overall I thought we played reasonably ok, and definitely a lot better than last weekend. Defence pretty solid, Shorey did well on coming back in, Pearce I thought was excellent too. However, we didn't really test their keeper, and the Pog is looking really poor at present. Alf our best player in my view. Legs slow, just not Prem quality. Hate to say it, but we just don't have enough quality throughout the team, and even though as I said we played ok, unless things change massively then the bookies are spot on with their relegation predictions.
Bristol Paul

Don't think we were poor, just very average.
While BMcD has added decent players in the summer, he hasn't brought in anyone that is going to do something to win a 50/50 game like that one. Thought we controlled the game quite well, we just never looked like turning some decent possession into goals.
Hopefully Kebe/Roberts can be our catalyst in that regard, but I'm not particularly optimistic.
winchester_royal

Quotes From The Press

Reading were toothless throughout, their only strike of consequence a bicycle kick from Garath McCleary, comfortably saved. The result has consigned them to the bottom of the table and the Championship champions clearly have much to do if they are not to make a quick return from whence they came. Their manager, Brian McDermott, pointed out that on 10 September last season his team were 23rd in the second tier, having lost four on the trot, and yet they still managed to get up as the champions.

"We need to start doing what we did then", he said. "We need to stick together and we need to be better with the ball. I know my players are better than they are showing at the moment. We need performances and results, which means we need clean sheets."
The Guardian

...there was not a huge amount between the two teams during what was a pretty mediocre match... Reading looked to wide men Jobi McAnuff and Garath McCleary as their prime attacking outlets but apart from one spectacular overhead kick from the latter in the early stages and a header that narrowly missed from substitute Hal Robson-Kanu late on, they struggled to break down the Baggies' backline.

Adam Le Fondre buzzed around trying to influence the game but fellow forward Pavel Pogrebnyak was a peripheral figure and was withdrawn after 69 minutes. The Royals did have two penalty appeals, after surging runs from McAnuff were ended by Billy Jones, but referee Chris Foy denied them both.
BBC Sport